Charles Paul Freund explores the role of crass consumerism in liberating people from authoritarian societies in this article on Reason Online. The people of post-Taliban Afghanistan sought out haircuts, clean chins, and Western-style movies, much to the distaste of some Western elitists. Freund shows why we should be glad to see them making such choices. Popular culture is all about meaning, expressing your self and your view of the world. The West isn't victimizing Afghanis with it's popular culture -- as Freund explains it:
Because you can’t export meaning the way you can export anti-aircraft Stingers.
Everytime we find underground "counter-culture" groups resisting an authoritarian regime, we've found a people who are capable of freeing themselves from that regime.
